Pre-Order Alert: Sideshow EXCLUSIVE Wolverine – Premium Format Figure
Sideshow is the best there is at what they do…and what they do is make incredibly detailed quarter-scale statues!
The next offer from Sideshow is the Premium Format Wolverine! This statue goes back to the character’s first solo series — the Japan saga by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, a longtime fan favorite story that defined the character for decades and even inspired the movie The Wolverine.
This Sideshow statue shows Logan atop a snow-capped bridge that is riddled by enemy arrow-fire. With the base this short X-Man stands 20-inches tall!
The statue also comes with swappable heads so you can display him masked or unmasked, both with fierce, feral expressions. And if you hurry to get Sideshow’s Exclusive Edition you can swap his right hand as well – show him with adamantium claws drawn or with the exclusive Muramasa Blade accessory!
You can check out detailed 360-degree photos, close-ups and more at Sideshow’s site, so go check it out! (And if your wallet has a mutant healing factor, place your order!)
The Claws Come Out This January in WOLVERINES #1!
The Claws Come Out This January in WOLVERINES #1!
New Weekly Series Spinning Out of Death of Wolverine!
His death was only the beginning. Spinning directly out of the chart-topping Death of Wolverine, The Logan Legacy and The Weapon X Program comes a brand-new weekly series kicking off this January in WOLVERINES #1! Today, Marvel is pleased to present your new look at the blockbuster first issue from the star-studded creative team of Charles Soule, Ray Fawkes, Alisson Borges and All-New Young Gun artist Nick Bradshaw!
Wolverine may be dead, but the weekly journey is just beginning as his mortal remains, now encased in the rare and powerful adamantium, are up for grabs. The battle begins as various factions vie for control of this valuable artifact. But why does it matter so much? And why is a war brewing in Logan’s name?
Death is on the books for a number of Marvel’s heroes and villains, and Mystique is playing chess with them all. X-23, Daken, Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, the mysterious man known only as Sharp and many, many more!
“In a way, most of the characters featured in [Wolverines] are incomplete reflections of Wolverine,” says co-writer Ray Fawkes in an interview with Marvel.com “Perhaps now that he’s gone, they are free to fully realize themselves? Or maybe they’ll be annihilated by the void that he’s left behind?”
The true enemy is still out there. With Logan gone, they pose a greater threat than ever before. An unlikely team of his closest allies and most bitter rivals will need to work together if they have any hope of avenging his death – but how can they?
“The group here is not a set of people who are particularly interested in doing anything together unless they absolutely have to,” says Charles Soule.
Logan’s end was just the beginning. As those who called him friend mourn his passing, those who called him foe are free to pursue their sinister aims. Now, those with close ties to him will forge an uneasy alliance to uncover the secrets behind his death, and new revelations about his life!
2015 is kicking off with the “SNIKT” that shouldn’t be missed as the weekly adventure begins in WOLVERINES #1!
WOLVERINES #1 (NOV140736)
Written by CHARLES SOULE & RAY FAWKES
Art & Cover by NICK BRADSHAW & ALISSON BORGES
Variant Cover by GABRIELE DELL’OTTO (NOV140737)
ZACH HOWARD (NOV140740) & SKOTTIE YOUNG (NOV140738)
BLANK VARIANT (NOV140741) & CANADA VARIANT (NOV140742) Also Available
Welcome Home Variant by SALVADOR LARROCA (NOV140739)
On-Sale – 1/07/15
To find a comic shop near you, visit www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook.
Marvel Movie Pre-Order Alerts: Hot Toys Wolverine and Hikari Sofubi Groot
Fans of movies based on Marvel Comics characters have several pre-orders hitting today!
First, from the film X-Men: Days of Future Past Hot Toys and Sideshow Collectibles bring Wolverine! This figure has over 30 points of articulation, 3 pairs of swappable hands (with and without claws!), and an outfit representing Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the dystopian future shown at the film’s opening. It stands just under 12-inches tall, and comes with a specialized Wolverine display base.
Now, it’s no secret that licensees have issues making toys and collectibles based on 20th Century Fox’s X-Men and Fantastic Four films. The last X-Men film to receive a big marketing push was X-Men Origins: Wolverine back in 2009. In 2011, covering New York Toy Fair for Marvelicious Toys, I interviewed one of the Marvel reps at Hasbro’s presentation. I was shocked at a lack of toys for that summer’s X-Men: First Class and I asked about that. I was told that Marvel would be marketing their X-Men: First Class comic books, not the movies. Indeed, in the past five years it has been hard to find any toys or statues based on the X-Men movies; only the comics. Only Diamond Select, with their Minimates lines, has covered all the Marvel movies regardless of studio.
In 2012 Hot Toys announced a licensing agreement for figures based on X-Men: First Class and Magneto and Charles Xavier figures were shown at various Hot Toys exhibits, but they never were released. It is more than likely pressure from Marvel has caused those figures to be indefinitely delayed, if not altogether cancelled.
Yet Hot Toys has persevered in releasing X-Men movie toys…if only Wolverine figures. Their first was from X-Men Origins: Wolverine released in 2009. That figure shot up in value and even had some high-quality bootlegs sold on eBay. As such, in 2012 Hot Toys made another Wolverine figure from X-Men III: The Last Stand. Then last year Hot Toys made another version of this character, showing his appearance in The Wolverine (still available to order, at a deep discount, from Sideshow Collectibles). This Days of Future Past Wolverine is the 4th version of this character.
Despite how much I really want Hot Toys to finally release the other X-Men figures (specifically the yellow-and-blue clad X-Men from First Class) Wolverine is the most popular X-Man. Each version of this figure has been distinct, and showing a likeness of Hugh Jackman appropriate to that film. This is an older Jackman likeness, and the future outfit is far different from any we’ve gotten before.
At $250 the figure is a bit more expensive than I’d like–with no large diorama pieces, excessive accessories, or swappable heads I’d prefer to see this around $200 like The Wolverine version, but it’s still a great version of the character.
I have it ordered already, both for the figure it is, plus I’m hoping that by “voting with my dollars” Hot Toys and Marvel realize high-end figures based on the X-Men films are profitable enough to continue beyond Wolverine.
(as an aside, X-Men: Days of Future Past came out on DVD and Blu-Ray this week, and the collector’s edition is almost half off at Amazon!)
If you prefer Marvel Studios’ own films, such as Guardians of the Galaxy, a new collectible is available for you as well! From Funko comes the Entertainment Earth exclusive Hikari Premium Sofubi Vinyl Figure of Groot!
While that’s a lot of adjectives, Funko’s Hikari Premium Sofubi Vinyl Figures are 11-inch soft vinyl figures. This one is limited to 5,000 pieces and only available from Entertainment Earth.
Funko is known for having several variants for each of their Sofubi figures, from color changes to translucent glittery versions. Several variants of the Groot Hikari Vinyl Figure were displayed at New York Comic-Con, but this Entertainment Earth version seems to be the most movie-accurate. You can order it now at EE.
And for Hikari collectors, Barnes and Noble just put up their exclusive black-and-white version of the Spider-Man figure, called “Dangerous Spider-Man” for $71. That is not a pre-order; mine has shipped already.
The Next Wave of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends are Revealed
At Toy Fair International, 2014 Hasbro revealed the first three waves of their new (more expensive) Marvel Legends Infinite Series figures, those being Captain America, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy–each wave tying directly in with a theatrical Marvel film’s release. But in my interview with Dwight Stall (which you can hear in Issue 110 of the Marvelicious Toys Podcast) a secret wave of Legends was teased.
It appears we now have confirmation that wave is going to be X-Men themed, and contain several figures that were cancelled from previous waves.
We received the image on the right from Marvelicious Toys listener John Classified. A shot taken from a Japanese catalog shows the X-Men themed wave will have Magneto, Wolverine, Storm, Stryfe, Marvel NOW Cyclops, and the build-a-figure appears to be the long-awaited Jubilee!
This release makes perfect sense. Many of these figures, including Stryfe and Jubilee, were shown at the Hasbro booth display at San Diego Comic-Con. The toolings were complete, Hasbro just needed a retail outlet to distribute the figures. And with the release of the upcoming film X-Men: Days of Future Past an X-Men themed wave of figures seemed not only logical but inevitable.
More, unlike the Marvel Studios films, such as Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and The Avengers, where Marvel Comics and Hasbro work together to make figures representing the on-screen looks for these heroes, in recent years when 20th Century Fox puts out a Marvel movie the toys are always comic based. Hasbro only released 4 limited articulation, comic based figures to capitalize on last year’s film The Wolverine. And when I asked at Toy Fair in 2011 about figures for the film X-Men: First Class I was told that Marvel would make toys for their First Class, the comic book series, not the film.
So clearly this wave is great for X-Men fans and Legends collectors alike. I’m excited to see Hasbro finding ways to get some of these “in limbo” Legends figures out for retail.
But the final question remains…could it be possible for the Pheonix Five Cyclops to be a variant for Marvel NOW Cyclops? One can hope.
We’ll report as soon as we hear, so please follow us at Marvelicious Toys and subscribe to our podcast for all the latest updates!
Review: Wolverine vs. Sabretooth Motion Comic
Review copy provided courtesy of Shout! Factory
Out today on DVD is Wolverine Versus Sabretooth — the latest Marvel Knights Motion Comic from Shout! Factory.
For those who have not yet watched a motion comic, it is a “splitting the difference” between a static comic on the page and a full-blown animated film. The images on the screen have a limited amount of motion; sometimes a character will move slightly like a paper cut-out, sometimes the camera zooms or pans over a comic panel. But while the visuals are semi-static, the audio provides a full-blown cinematic experience including professional voice actors and a robust film score.
Marvel superheroes have a long history of Motion Comics, with some of my favorites being the Joss Whedon Astonishing X-Men series and Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D. But (as described on a special feature on the DVD) Wolverine is one of Marvel’s most popular characters and certainly its most famous X-Man so there have been several Wolverine motion comics including Wolverine: Origins, Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk, and now Wolverine vs. Sabretooth.
These releases all adapt existing, popular stories told in the pages of Marvel comics and this newest release continues that pattern by adapting the controversial Wolverine: Evolution comic arc written by Jeph Loeb. After years of not knowing his own origin, Wolverine finally remembers his life before the Weapon X project, but with those memories come nightmares involving Roman gladiators and a mysterious character named Romulus. In this arc Wolverine will uncover secrets that reveal even more about his own origin, as well as his possible genetic connection to long-time nemesis Sabretooth. The new history for Wolverine put forth in this story caused a ripple of fan discontent, and has been mostly explained away in later comics, but however you feel about the revelations they are attention-grabbing.
As this motion comic is strictly an adaptation of the comics I won’t review the source material. Suffice it to say it has guest appearances from some of the other most popular characters in Marvel comics, as well as some more obscure ones. There is lots of action and globe-trotting, and as a viewer watching the story for the first time I was hooked by the tease of revelations the story provided, even if some of the suggestions were eyeroll inducing. However there is one shock for which I was completely unprepared, it’s this story’s “money shot”, and while I’m sure most X-fans know it already it really does give this story a weight that many do not.
However by adapting a single arc from an ongoing comic series, as this motion comic does, there are lingering questions to be answered. In some cases, such as the Astonishing X-Men series, the entire run is adapted to motion comics. However, more regularly, questions are asked in motion comics that require viewers to then go to comics (or Wikipedia) to find answers. That trend continues with Wolverine versus Sabretooth–while the story told is a complete arc with a satisfying resolution, there are many questions still left unresolved. But in comics the stories are never “done”, they always want you to buy the next issue, and this will feed that compulsion.
Aside from the story my real question with the motion comics is the presentation of the material. Comic readers have had 7 years to read this story in print, so what about the presentation will appeal to a non-comics reader? The answer is–lots.
With this latest release the quality of the Marvel motion comics continues to improve. The earliest of motion comic releases had poor voice acting, generic music, and very limited motion. But with Wolverine versus Sabretooth it’s impressive how these have improved. The voices for the main characters of Wolverine, Sabretooth, Storm, Black Panther, and others are equivalent to those that would be heard in any television animated series. Added with the sound effects and the music, director Carl Upsdell delivers an immersive aural experience that exceeds many of the best radio dramas I’ve heard.
The visuals are also some of the best that I’ve seen in a motion comic. I am a fan of Simone Bianchi’s art style, and motion comics are a tremendous showcase for great comic art. Projected on my home theater I’m able to see detail in the art that would never appear on a page. I’m also very impressed with the way the producers have separated the foreground characters from the background scenery, giving the scenes an almost 3-D feel. That said, the trademarks that separate a motion comic from an animated film exist from the wood-puppet mouth movements to the static nature of the images. I know many people who simply find the motion comic animation style to be dull, and I don’t see anything in Wolverine versus Sabretooth that will make converts of the disaffected.
The DVD sticks to the format of the original comic, presenting the story as 6 individual “episodes”. You can watch all six back-to-back, but each repeats the opening credits sequence, padding the overall runtime to just over an hour. The DVD has one special feature in which Loeb and Bianchi look back on this arc. There are no mea culpas and no apologies that may be desired by those who disliked these changes to Wolverine’s backstory, but Loeb does describe his thought process behind why this story was necessary and why it took so long to be fully told. The 23 minute featurette provides a discussion of the writing, the art, and the characters of Wolverine and Sabretooth.
Taking a motion comic for what it is, Wolverine versus Sabretooth is technically the best I’ve seen to date. If you haven’t read this Wolverine story arc, or if you have and want to revisit it in a new way, I can highly recommend this new 6-part feature, out on DVD today.
Scary Savings on Marvel Mini-Busts at Gentle Giant through Nov 4
Gentle Giant just posted a new sale on Marvel mini-busts, and they have some deals so good they’re scary!
First, if you’re a Deadpool fan, you can really save on the Deadpool Bundle! If you get the Deadpool Corps Boxed Set you get Lady Deadpool free! I only bought Lady Deadpool because of the Deadpool Coprs, and I paid full price, so this is some considerable savings (given that Lady Deadpool likely should have been part of the Corps to begin with). Or you can get the Lady Deadpool Mini-Bust (formerly an AFX Exclusive) for only $39.00–almost half off.
Next, if you’re a fan of the Wolverine/Black Cat: Claws series, this is a deal for you… buy one of the Wolverine mini-busts (Brown or Yellow) and get the Black Cat mini-bust free! Or you can get the Black Cat Mini-Bust alone for just $39.00
There’s even more, such as the White outfit Black Widow mini-bust for $39.00 (down from $70), and 20% off all in-stock merchandise orders of over $100 (Exclusives, Pre-Orders, and a few select items excluded).
Best still, Gentle Giant has finally updated their shopping cart software so you can order more than one in-stock item per order to increase the savings and save shipping!
These deals are only good until November 4th, 2013 so check them out now at Gentle Giant’s Sale site.
Arnie is co-host of the Marvel toy & statue collecting podcast Marvelicious Toys which can be heard at marvelicioustoys.com
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